Member states will enjoy a reduction in their EU contributions in 2006, thanks to the fact that execution of the EU budget reached a record high in 2005. The budget of Cyprus wil be reduced by EUR 3 mln.
Only 1% of the EU budget, or EUR 1 077 million, was left unused, according to a European Commission statement.
This figure, coupled with extra revenue of EUR 1 292 million, will reduce this year’s national contributions to the EU budget by a total of EUR 2 410 million (EUR 2.4 bln), a new record low since 1997.
The Commission has just approved a second Provisional Draft Amending Budget for 2006 to include last year’s surplus in this year’s budgeting.
Dalia Grybauskaité, European Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget, commented: “Better planning and the constant improvement of EU budget management at all levels are bearing fruit.
“Member States now annually pay into the EU budget only as much as is really needed”.
Only EUR 1 billion of unspent EU funding
The Commission said that if unused special reserves are excluded from the calculations (by definition reserves are meant to be used only for unexpected expenditure), the level of planned but unused EU funding in 2005 was even lower than EUR 1 billion, at EUR 871 million, or 0.8% of the total budget of EUR 105.7 billion (payment appropriations).
For agriculture, the sum not spent amounted to EUR 157 million or 0.3% out of EUR 48 510 million.
For structural funding it was EUR 58 million (0.2%) out of a total EUR 32 641 million.
In external action, unused funding was limited to EUR 181 million or 3.5% of the total allowance (4% in the previous year).
Compared to 2004, a proportionally higher level of unspent funding was registered for the pre-accession strategy, with EUR 463 million left of a total of EUR 3 428 million (13.5%), owing mainly to the late transmission of payment claims by national authorities, the Commission noted.
Some areas implemented in full
Examples of full budget implementation in 2005 include strategically important instruments such as: Trans-European Networks, which promote modern and efficient transport, telecommunications and energy infrastructure; the Schengen facility, with projects aimed at improving border control in the new Member States; and the MEDA programme, which offers technical and financial support to accompany the reform of economic and social structures in the EU’s Mediterranean partners.
The extra revenue in the EU budget came mainly from third-party contributions: EUR 1 167.5 million out of EUR 1 292 million.
The overall surplus of EUR 2 410 million represents 2.3 % of the 2005 budget.
In 2004 the surplus amounted to 2.6% of the total; in 2003 to 5.9% and in 2002 to 7.8%.
Lower contributions
The surplus from 2005 will reduce the sums payable by Member States this year.
Contributions of all Member States will be lowered, most significantly in the case of the biggest countries like Germany (EUR -496 million), the UK (EUR -415 million), France (EUR -383 million) and Italy (EUR -314 million).
Cyprus, which pays in accordance with its economic size, will enjoy a reduction of EUR 3 mln
The next Provisional Draft Amending Budget, to be proposed at the beginning of June, will adjust Member State contributions for 2006 in light of revised forecasts for gross national income (GNI)–a figure that relates to GDP–VAT and customs duties, updated amounts for the UK rebate, and the surplus from the Guarantee Fund for external actions.
